The LA County Coroner has now identified the woman whose partial remains were found in Encino as the mother who went missing. Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 I-Team on Dec. 18, 2023.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said it confirmed that partial remains discovered five weeks ago in a trash bin in Encino belong to Mei Haskell, presumed dead since the arrest of her husband, who is also charged with the murders of Haskell's mother and step father.
Mei Haskell's mother, Yanxiang Wang, and stepfather, Gaoshan Li, haven't been seen since early November and are also presumed dead by authorities.
Haskell's husband, Samuel Bond Haskell, was charged last month with murdering the three but he has postponed entering pleas to the charges until January.
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The remains were found in the trash bin Nov. 8 behind a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard at Rubio Avenue. Security video from the area appeared to show a man lift a black plastic trash bag from the trunk of a white Tesla sedan and place it into the trash bin, where the remains were found.
The LAPD said blood and other evidence were found inside the Haskell family home in Tarzana that was consistent with murder.
Disappearance of Mei Haskell
Samuel Haskell, 35, was arrested by LAPD detectives at a shopping center several hours after the remains were discovered.
No other remains have been found in connection with the case.
The I-Team reported in November that a group of day laborers said Samuel Haskell hired them to move trash bags from his home in Tarzana, but returned the bags after they saw what looked like part of a human body inside.
“When we picked up the bags, we could tell they weren't rocks,” one of the workers said in Spanish.
